


Ombra - Shadow

by cabin13



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Light Angst, Missing Scene, Nico di Angelo-centric, One Shot, Post- The Titan's Curse, Shadow Travel (Percy Jackson), english isn't my first language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 18:35:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17452253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cabin13/pseuds/cabin13
Summary: |Missing scene||pre Battle of the Labyrinth|~Nico writhes, thrashes down-and-out, fights tooth and nail against the evil hands that cling to his clothes and plunge in his flesh, but he's growing weaker and weaker, he's losing his energy. It's spectral voices the ones calling him; they encourage him to follow them, to lose his own id in that boundless mass of nothingness.The young boy wants to scream, but has no strength to, he can't even move, he's barely breathing and all his starting force has run out in a short time. It almost seems that his soul's wounds – the pain in this last period, the rage for Bianca's death, the loneliness after being abandoned – have transferred on his physique and are blocking every action of his, even introducing air in his lungs costs him an enormous effort.





	Ombra - Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> My first AO3 work about my big bro yay!!  
> The title is Italian and means "shadow"  
> Hope ya like it, English isn't my first language so if there are any translation mistakes just lemme know

 

The up becomes down , the front becomes back and everything gets lost in a black vortex that seals above his head distancing any dim ray of light: he's submerged in his element, the darkness, and should be likewise a little fish in the sea, maneuver in the shadows as if he were among bubbles and waves.

Instead he's drowning.

Nico writhes, thrashes down-and-out, fights tooth and nail against the evil hands that cling to his clothes and plunge in his flesh, but he's growing weaker and weaker, he's losing his energy. It's spectral voices the ones calling him; they encourage him to follow them, to lose his own id in that boundless mass of nothingness.

The young boy wants to scream, but has no strength to, he can't even move, he's barely breathing and all his starting force has run out in a short time. It almost seems that his soul's wounds – the pain in this last period, the rage for Bianca's death, the loneliness after being abandoned – have transferred on his physique and are blocking every action of his, even introducing air in his lungs costs him an enormous effort.

It's his willpower the one keeping him anchored to his last spark of sanity, the brain section that there's in every human being and push the livings not to give up that gift called existence.

The shadows' howling are covered by a far, scowling and scathing laugh, that echoes in his ears and reminds him of doctor Thorne. Why his mind comes back to that guy right at that moment, the son of Hades doesn't know and does everything he can to hunt the memory in the deepest corners of his brain. It might be the despair in that place – but can the blackest dark considered a  _place_? – or it might be the effect the voices have on his subconscious.

He has no time to stay still and find it out, he absolutely need to get out of here. The darkness is too powerful, it's filling up his nostrils and lungs like ooze brimming from a dropper and slowly it's killing him.

An intuition.

The voices are the  _others_ , the ones who got lost in the shadow before him, the ones crushed by a too powerful power they weren't able to tame.

Another intuition – this time it's not really a thought of his, it has a timbre reminding him of the way how Minos speaks.

He is stronger than the dark, it's the shadows which are made to give in to the Underworld's children. His abilities are immensely vast and, if he focuses enough, he can bend to his will even the space folds.

Nico snarls his teeth and snorts from his nostrils, finally recovering his diaphragm's mobility. Squinting his eyes, he can glimpse them for real, the folds in the black expanding before him: it's like watching a hanging sheet being rattled by the wind. The ripples form, enlarge, grow smaller till they almost disappear and then get bigger again.

A shiver runs down his spine, he's regaining his motor discretion and the more he focuses on the folds, the more he perceives a strong tingling to his fingers, to his arms, to his knees. It's like coming to the surface after an endless apnea under meters and meters of icy and dark water, the lungs filling up with a new fresh aria not corrupted by the evil shadows anymore.

A fold fidgets and writhes right before his nose and the son of Hades seizes the opportunity with both hands: his brain issues the stimulus and it's a relief when he realizes his muscles are actually putting it into action.

A step. A step to walk through a space breach.

It's the first step towards a new power on darkness and it has a strong horn noise, a psychedelic colors sequence and a writing impossible to understand. Nico doesn't know where he's exactly landed, but, as Minos's ghostly shape by his side, knows that he has done it. He has shadow traveled.

**Author's Note:**

> Soo... a few notes to understand what my crazy mind stared writing during a boring class at school XD  
> When Nico shadow-travel for the first time he ends up in China and the writing impossible to understand refers to the Chinese kanji (are they at least called kanji? Or is it only in Japan?!)  
> The part about sanity and every human being's will to live is taken from the philosophy of Schopenhauer(Schopy for friends) and my amazing *put irony here* school notes about it


End file.
